Continuum mechanics underlies many geological and geophysical phenomena, from earthquakes and faults to the fluid dynamics of the Earth. This interdisciplinary book provides geoscientists, physicists and applied mathematicians with a class-tested, accessible overview of continuum mechanics. Starting from thermodynamic principles and geometrical insights, the book surveys solid, fluid and gas dynamics. In later review chapters, it explores new aspects of the field emerging from nonlinearity and dynamical complexity and provides a brief introduction to computational modeling. Simple, yet rigorous, derivations are used to review the essential mathematics. The author emphasizes the full three-dimensional geometries of real-world examples, enabling students to apply this in deconstructing solid earth and planet-related problems. Problem sets and worked examples are provided, making this a practical resource for graduate students in geophysics, planetary physics and geology and a beneficial tool for professional scientists seeking a better understanding of the mathematics and physics within Earth sciences.

This is an elementary book on stress and strain theory for geologists. It is written in the belief that a sound introduction to the mechanics of continu ous bodies is essential for students of structural geology and tectonics, just as a sound introduction to physical chemistry is necessary for students of petrology. This view is shared by most specialists in structural geology, but it is not yet reflected in typical geology curricula. Undergraduates are still traditionally given just a few lectures on mechanical fundamentals, and there is rarely any systematic lecturing on this subject at the graduate level. The result is that many students interested in structure and tectonics finish their formal train ing without being able to understand or contribute to modem literature on rocks as mechanical systems. The long-term remedy for this is to introduce courses in continuum mechanics and material behavior as routine parts of the undergraduate curriculum. These subjects are difficult, but no more so than optical mineralogy or thermo dynamics or other rigorous subjects customarily studied by undergraduates. The short-term remedy is to provide books suitable for independ ent study by those students and working geologists alike who wish to improve their understanding of mechanical topics relevant to geology. This book is intended to meet the short-term need with respect to stress and strain, two elementary yet challenging concepts of continuum mechanics.

The study of the Earth and the environment requires an understanding of the physical processes within and at the surface of the Earth. This book will allow the student to develop a broad working knowledge of mechanics and its application to the earth and environmental sciences. The mathematics are introduced at a level that assumes only an understanding of first-year calculus. The concepts are then developed to allow an understanding of the basic physics for a wide range of natural processes. These are illustrated by examples from many real situations, such as the application of the theory of flow through porous media to the study of groundwater, the viscosity of fluids to the flow of lava, and the theory of stress to the study of faults. The breadth of topics will allow students and professionals to gain an insight into the workings of many aspects of the Earth's systems.

This interdisciplinary book provides graduate students in geophysics, planetary physics and geology with a class-tested, accessible overview of continuum mechanics.

Modern continuum mechanics is the topic of this book. After its introduction it will be applied to a few typical systems arising in the environmental sciences and in geophysics. In large lake/ocean dynamics peculiar effects of the rotation of the Earth will be analyzed in linear/nonlinear processes of a homogenous and inhomogenous water body. Strong thermomechanical coupling paired with nonlinear rheology affects the flow of large ice sheets (such as Antarctica and Greenland) and ice shelves. Its response to the climatic forcing in an environmental of greenhouse warming may significantly affect the life of future generations. The mechanical behavior of granular materials under quasistatic loadings requires non-classical mixture concepts and encounters generally complicated elastic-plastic-type constitutive behavior. Creeping flow of soils, consolidation processes and ground water flow are described by such theories. Rapid shearing flow of granular materials lead to constitutive relations for the stresses which incorporate rate independent behavior of Mohr-Coulomb type together with dispersive stress contributions due to particle collisions. Rockfalls, sturzstroms, snow and ice avalanches, but also debris flow and sea ice drifting can be described with such formulations.

The book unifies classical continuum mechanics and turbulence modeling, i.e. the same fundamental concepts are used to derive model equations for material behaviour and turbulence closure and complements these with methods of dimensional analysis. The intention is to equip the reader with the ability to understand the complex nonlinear modeling in material behaviour and turbulence closure as well as to derive or invent his own models. Examples are mostly taken from environmental physics and geophysics.

The topics covered include soil mechanics and porous media, glacier and ice dynamics, climatology and lake physics, climate change as well as numerical algorithms. The book, written by well-known experts, addresses researchers and students interested in physical aspects of our environment.